Skanska has officially taken over the general maintenance of Gloucestershire County Council’s entire street lighting portfolio.
The contractor began the installation of 55,000 new LED lamps in November 2015 and is now responsible for the upkeep of the county’s street lights, lit signs and bollards.
With over 6,000 lights already upgraded in Gloucester, the county town’s rollout has reached the half-way point and the team is on target to complete the scheme in 2018.
On 1 April, to mark the start of the 11-year maintenance contract, Gloucestershire County Council and Skanska staff participated in a training workshop designed to integrate all parties delivering the contract.
Councillor Vernon Smith, Gloucestershire’s cabinet member for highways, said: “Our street lighting partnership with Skanska provides quality services and value for money for local tax payers, as well as helping the county to achieve its sustainability objectives.
“Skanska are currently making great progress replacing existing sodium lighting across the county with more efficient and reliable LED technology, which combined with specialist monitoring equipment will significantly reduce our street lighting maintenance costs.”
LED lighting uses 70% less energy than conventional sodium lights and has a much longer life, meaning significantly reduced maintenance costs. By making the decision to use more LED street lights now, the council will make financial savings of about £17million over the next 12 years.
Skanska operations director James Holmes said: “It’s incredibly pleasing to see the work progressing so well. The LED upgrade will bring tremendous benefits to Gloucestershire, including substantial cost savings, carbon reduction, and improvements in reliability.
“In the last six months we’ve built an excellent working relationship with our colleagues at the council. Taking on responsibility for the general maintenance means that we can further develop our relationship and deliver the work in an even more efficient way.”
Investment in LED street lighting was approved in February 2014 as part of the council’s budget for 2014/15 to 2017/18. The £32 million contract for the scheme was awarded to Skanska in August 2015. This could rise to £41m, dependent on additional work.
